Insert Picture Here (Part 1)
By Ruby Garnet
Summary: The story of Lorelai Gilmore as told by someone other than herself.
Disclaimer: I own nothing in this story other than the privilege of being able to write about a wonderful character
A/N: First prose-type story I've ever written. Hope you have fun with it and enjoy reading about my view of Lorelai's character as much as I enjoyed writing it.
A picture is defined as a visual representation or image -- painted, drawn, photographed, or otherwise rendered on a flat surface. Everyone wanted pictures of the vivacious woman that had painted the town of Stars Hollow with color so many years before: Lorelai Gilmore. Understandably, nobody ever found a picture worth printing, handing out, or even posting on the Internet. The explanation was simple: a picture couldn't match the impassioned revere that she had obtained while alive. Years later, articles have been published, stories have been written, and TV shows have been created. But every time someone wanted to place a picture next to a dedication, they just left the area blank and scribbled in the words: Insert picture here.
---
Lorelai Gilmore's childhood years had been airbrushed with powder-white taffeta dresses, intricately constructed dollhouses with plush families that eerily resembled her own, and ostentatious silver watches with rhinestone studded bands. She held within her memories, pristine marble floors that shoes were never to be worn on and tables that were so fragile, they supposedly could not support the weight of a single crystal glass. She remembered reading A Little Princess and wondering if one day she would end up like that…if one day she would end up destitute and have to fend for herself in the 'big and scary' world that her parents Richard and Emily had always warned her about; the world constituting of drunks, smokers, and street hagglers that begged for the pennies from the wealthy. Along with sparkles, scents of sweet pea, and foamy bath bubbles, the young Lorelai yearned for something that she feared would never be granted.
---
She wanted to be a dove that could fly away from this sugarplum and fairyland … but if she were a dove, where would she fly?
---
As she grew older, the unknown and the dangerous captivated Lorelai and she could not decide which was more exhilarating than the other. Not knowing any other, she attended the local private institution. The name of the academy was so incongruous that nobody bothered to remember it, including Lorelai. To her, it was just a school … a place that haunted her caged existence and served as a reminder of the monotonous routine she called life.
---
She slowly released herself from the shackles as her high school life progressed. She was introduced to a former stranger known as alcohol and they became quite close friends. Wine that had previously been bitter to her tastes evolved into an elixir that danced upon the fibers of her tongue as she drank. After countless years of hearing "Dahling, I'll have a sweet martini" and "Dry martinis around?" Lorelai finally found out what a 'martini' actually was and took full advantage of her knowledge by sneaking one or two here and there when her parents weren't to be found. Her hair, which had always been kept in a straight and low ponytail, was released and she painstakingly began to curl the dark locks into rebellious spirals. She mindlessly tossed the pink lemonade and strawberry Bonnie Bell lip smackers underneath her bed and replaced them with dark shades of women's lipstick like 'Raunchy Ruby' and 'Sinful Scarlet'.
---
Once in a while, she'd glance at the floor-length mirror in her room, but she'd quickly turn away; not wanting to see how she had changed … or have to admit that she ever changed at all.
---
As a girl, Lorelai had never taken a liking to boys. The only ones she'd ever met were sons of her mother's yuppie friends that wore miniature suits identical to the ones their fathers wore. She envisioned them as future well-to-do businessmen that had no time for frivolous activities such as kissing girls and having parties. After observing the disgustingly pretty and even sometimes slutty girls lip-locking with boys in the hallway, boys became 'guys' and guys became Lorelai's objects of attention. One in particular, Christopher Hayden, struck Lorelai's fancy and she soon found herself quite enamored with the fantasies she conjured up in her head … all, of course, involving him. She didn't know, but he relished the same kind of thoughts as his own guilty pleasure.
---
After careful consideration, the both of them finally became a 'couple'. The both of them finally became Lorelai and Christopher, which was quickly shortened to Lor and Chris, courtesy of the couple themselves. One thing led to another and in due time, the two college-bound teenagers found themselves in a world that only they could enjoy and loathe being in all at the same time. A plan to go to college dissolved into the plotting of a cross-European odyssey.
---
Lorelai was so caught up in the future path of her hurricane that she didn't even notice the destruction she had already caused. One thing led to another, and soon both of them found themselves on a path they'd never expected to come across, much less walk on. Lorelai was sixteen. And pregnant. She vividly remembered the shouting, shrieking, sobbing, and every emotional 's' word that haunted Christopher's house, as well as her own. The disappointment and anger added lines of aging to Emily and Richard's faces and hardened into painful scars.
---
If Lorelai were alive, she'd tell you about her electronic problems. She'd then be reminded of that night when she was six months pregnant and was watching a recording of her favorite TV program. The VCR went crazy and it automatically fast-forwarded no matter what button she pressed on the remote. She went up to the VCR to manually do something about it, but the moment her eyes caught the blurry screen in front of her, it became impossible to see through her tears. She wanted to rewind the tape so badly, but it reminded her of her life – something going fast forward at full speed with no turning back.